Five ways a Spanish employer can change your job without ending it

Key rules

• Valid reason: Four of the five tools need an economic, technical, organisational or production reason.
• Not a dismissal: All five change your job without ending it, so your contract continues.
• Business sale: When a business changes hands, you keep your employment rights.

The five tools at a glance

If your employer says your job is changing but you are not being dismissed, it is almost always one of five tools. Find the description that fits what you were told.

1. Substantial change of working conditions

This tool lets the employer change core terms of your job. The law treats these as substantial: working hours, work schedule, shift system, pay system and amount, work-performance system, and duties that go beyond your occupational classification.

The employer must give an economic, technical, organisational or production reason. Without one, it is not a valid use of this tool.

Smaller adjustments are different. A change within your professional group or an equivalent category is not substantial. The employer can make it under its normal managerial power, with no special procedure. You can still challenge it in court.

2. Geographical mobility

This applies when you are transferred to another workplace and have to change your place of residence. It rests on the same kinds of reasons: economic, technical, organisational or production. A move that does not force you to relocate is not this tool.

3. ERTE

An ERTE is a temporary suspension of your contract or a temporary cut in your working hours. It can be based on economic, technical, organisational or production reasons, or on force majeure. It is not a dismissal: your job is meant to come back when it ends. There is also a separate mechanism, the RED Mechanism, for wider crises.

4. Opt-out from the collective agreement

Your sector or company has a collective agreement (convenio colectivo) that sets minimum conditions. In some cases the employer can stop applying certain conditions of it, such as pay. This is called a descuelgue. It rests on the same four kinds of reasons. A typical sign is being told the company cannot apply the agreement's pay or hours any more because of its finances or production.

5. Business succession

When a business, or part of it, is sold or transferred, you keep your employment rights. The new owner takes over your job as it was. Your situation changes in who employs you, not in your rights.

What to do next

Work out which tool matches your notice, then use the checklist below to check the notice, the dates and the deadline to challenge. The quick answers below cover common worries about dismissal after an ERTE, sales and signing new terms. If you are unsure which tool applies, ask a labour lawyer or a union.

Checklist when your employer announces a change

• Get the change in writing, with the date you received it and proof of delivery.

• Check that the notice states the change and its cause (economic, technical, organisational or production reasons), and, for a relocation, the new place of work.

• Note the date the change takes effect and count the notice period: at least 15 days for a substantial change, at least 30 days for a permanent relocation.

• Write the deadline to challenge in your diary: 20 working days from notification.

• Ask whether a consultation period has been opened with the workers' representatives, and get the names and contact details of those representatives or your union.

• Find your collective agreement (convenio colectivo) in the header of your payslip or in your contract; if it is not there, ask your employer or your representatives.

• Look up the agreement by sector, activity code (CNAE) and territory in the Ministry of Labour's public register of collective agreements or in the official gazette, and save a copy.

• If the company is being sold, ask in writing for the planned date, the reasons and the consequences and measures for workers, which your representatives, or you individually if there are none, must receive before the transfer.

• Keep your contract and annexes, recent payslips from before and after the change, your schedule or timesheets and your job description.

• Save emails, WhatsApp messages and other communications about the change, and note the names of any witnesses.

Quick answers on layoffs, sales and agreement changes

Can I be dismissed during or after an ERTE?

Yes, you can be dismissed during an ERTE, but only on other grounds, such as a disciplinary dismissal. If the employer received contribution exemptions, it must keep jobs for six months after the ERTE ends, and ERTE causes cannot justify dismissals in that time. A dismissal that breaks the rules may be declared unfair or void.

Do I keep my seniority and agreement after the company is sold?

Yes, the new owner takes over your seniority, pay, contract type and Social Security obligations. Your collective agreement keeps applying until it expires or a new agreement takes effect. The sale alone is not a reason to dismiss you, and a dismissal because of it is unlawful.

Do I have to sign the new terms to keep my job?

No, you do not need to sign when the employer uses a lawful procedure, because the change takes effect after the notice period anyway. You can accept it or challenge it in court. A change outside those procedures needs your consent, and without it you can refuse and challenge it.